Cruise ships have always had rules. The difference now is that Royal Caribbean actually seems determined to enforce some of them, at least more than they ever did before.
From drink package loopholes to wearable tech and onboard behaviour, the cruise line has become noticeably stricter in recent years – and some passengers are only finding out once they’re already on board.
Not all of the changes are controversial though. In one surprising area, the company is actually making life easier for loyal passengers…
1. Sharing Drinks Packages
This is probably the clearest example of Royal Caribbean tightening the rules – although there’s now been an interesting U-turn.
For years, passengers found ways around the cruise line’s policy requiring all adults in the same cabin to buy the Deluxe Beverage Package if one person purchased it.
In some cases, guests could call customer services and explain that one traveller didn’t drink for medical, religious or personal reasons. Royal Caribbean would sometimes make an exception and allow that person to buy the cheaper non-alcoholic package instead.
Let me be clear – I’m not saying that everyone who did this was cheating the system. Absolutely not, I trust that many of those phone calls were absolutely genuine.
But the exemption became widely discussed online as a workaround, and Royal Caribbean said that requests for exceptions had increased while passengers were continuing to share drinks packages, which isn’t allowed.
So, on 1st August 2025, Royal Caribbean stopped routinely granting these exceptions. If one adult bought the alcoholic package, every adult of legal drinking age in the same stateroom and on the same booking was generally required to buy it too.
However, Royal Caribbean has since made a major U-turn on that rule.
There’s now a formal Beverage Package Accommodation Request for passengers who can’t consume alcohol because of a disability, medical condition or pregnancy.
If Royal Caribbean approves the request, the affected passenger doesn’t have to buy the alcoholic package, although they will still be required to purchase a non-alcoholic beverage package.
This isn’t quite a return to the old system, though.
The new exemption is much more narrowly defined. Simply not drinking, wanting to save money or preferring not to buy the package isn’t enough, and the current accommodation process specifically lists disability, medical conditions and pregnancy as the qualifying reasons.
Approval isn’t guaranteed either, and Royal Caribbean has made it very clear that supplying false or misleading information could have serious consequences.
So while couples where one person genuinely can’t drink now have an option again, the loophole that people previously used to mix and match packages has effectively been closed.
And sharing a drinks package remains strictly against the rules.
In other words, Royal Caribbean has found a sensible middle ground: there’s protection for passengers who genuinely can’t drink alcohol, without reopening the much broader exemption system that became so easy to abuse.
Read more: 4 Ways Cruisers Try To Cheat The Royal Caribbean Drinks Package
2. Reserving Pool Chairs
Every cruiser knows the frustration – you arrive at the pool ready for a sea day only to discover rows of empty loungers “reserved” by towels, books and flip-flops that haven’t moved for hours.
Royal Caribbean has technically had rules against chair hogging for years, but enforcement now seems far more visible than it once was. Crew members on busy sailings are increasingly removing unattended belongings from loungers that have been left unused for extended periods.
It’s not difficult to see why. Ships are getting bigger, passenger numbers are climbing, and pool decks can become chaotic on warm-weather itineraries.
Also, Royal’s newest ships have so much to see and do, that it’s easy for someone to reserve a sun lounger and wander off to do an activity or grab a bite to eat, but then become distracted and end up spending hours away from the poolside.
However, on my latest cruise on Legend of the Seas, I only saw the signs telling people not to reserve deck chairs on sea days. On port days, it was still a bit of a free-for-all, with lots of people putting towels out early in the morning.
Read more: 11 Ways I Beat Chair Hogs On Cruises
3. Travel Routers And WiFi Devices
This is one of the lesser-known changes, but it has caught out quite a few tech-savvy cruisers.
Royal Caribbean has been taking a tougher stance on travel routers and networking devices that create personal WiFi hotspots onboard. These gadgets are often used by passengers who want to connect multiple devices through a single internet package.
From a passenger perspective, it feels harmless enough. From the cruise line’s perspective, it can interfere with onboard systems and create cybersecurity concerns.
As more people cruise while working remotely – or travel with phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and cameras all needing internet access – these kinds of devices have become increasingly common.
But Royal Caribbean appears to be making it clear that unofficial onboard networks aren’t something it wants spreading across its ships.
Technically, travel routers have been on the banned list since late 2024, but it’s only more recently that more and more people are talking about the ban being enforced.
Ultimately, they want you to pay for more WiFi connections. Same as with the drinks packages – anything that could impact the bottom line of the cruise line won’t be allowed.
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4. Smart Glasses And Wearable Cameras
Cruise lines are becoming noticeably more cautious about wearable recording technology.
Smart glasses with built-in cameras have triggered growing privacy concerns across the travel industry, especially in places like pools, spas, casinos and family areas where passengers may not realise they’re being filmed.
MSC Cruises was one of the first cruise lines to introduce specific restrictions around smart glasses onboard, but it didn’t take long for Royal Caribbean to catch up and ban them in February 2026.
Cruise lines are far less relaxed than they once were about passengers constantly recording content around the ship, especially when it’s not obvious to other guests that they might be being filmed. Someone walking around with a GoPro is a lot more conspicuous than someone just wearing glasses, after all.
And it’s not just a safety thing – cruise lines like Royal Caribbean don’t want everyone to be able to film if there’s something going wrong onboard that they don’t want publishing online! Something like…
5. Fighting And Disorderly Behaviour
This should go without saying, but recent incidents suggest cruise lines are no longer willing to quietly deal with onboard fights behind the scenes.
Videos of passengers arguing, brawling and being escorted off ships have spread widely online over the past few years, and Royal Caribbean appears increasingly prepared to take immediate action against disruptive behaviour.
There’s very little tolerance, and guests are often kicked off the ship at the next port of call, even if they have later calmed down and tried to apologise over a drunken ‘mistake’.
And to be clear, this isn’t just fights we’re talking about. Excessive drunken behaviour, threatening conduct and other types of disturbances are attracting faster intervention from security teams than many seasoned cruisers remember from years ago. No three strikes, no second chances. The message from Royal Caribbean is clear – off you go, good luck getting home, we don’t want you onboard anymore.
And again, part of that is likely because cruise ships now operate under constant social media scrutiny. One viral incident can generate headlines around the world before the ship has even reached its next destination.
Read more: Cruise Ship Fights Are Getting Worse (Here’s How to Avoid Them)
6. Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine Access
Royal Caribbean has quietly trimmed one of the small perks that many regular cruisers had come to expect.
Since March 2026, the cruise line has removed Coca-Cola Freestyle souvenir cups from both the Deluxe Beverage Package and the Refreshment Package. Guests can still buy the cups, but they’re no longer included as standard.
That matters because the cups unlock access to Royal Caribbean’s Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, which are found on most ships and allow passengers to create hundreds of different drink combinations using touchscreen dispensers.
Soft drinks themselves haven’t disappeared from the packages. Canned and fountain sodas are still included. The change only affects access to the self-service Freestyle machines.
Passengers who want to use them now need to purchase a Freestyle cup separately for a one-off fee of $4.99.
It’s hardly a holiday-ruining change, but it does reflect a broader trend across the cruise industry. Features that were once bundled into larger packages are increasingly being separated out and charged for individually, even when the extra cost is relatively small.
Read more: Royal Caribbean To Remove Coca-Cola Freestyle Cups From Key Drink Packages
7. Safety Concerns Around Labadee
Royal Caribbean’s approach to Labadee shows how much more cautious cruise lines have become around security concerns.
The company suspended visits to its private destination in Haiti throughout 2025 due to unrest in the country, with affected sailings rerouted to alternative Caribbean ports instead. That suspension has now carried through into 2026.
The port has been on-again, off-again, but for now it seems like a long-term plan to avoid Labadee visits until there are no concerns at all over the safety of guests. Which seems sensible.
Royal Caribbean has made clear that it hopes to return once it believes it’s safe to do so, but the situation highlights how seriously cruise operators now treat itinerary risk and passenger safety concerns.
Years ago, cruise lines were sometimes criticised for pushing ahead with controversial port calls during periods of instability. Increasingly, companies seem more willing to change itineraries entirely rather than risk negative attention or passenger unease.
Labadee’s fun – let’s hope things calm down and more guests get to enjoy the destination in future.
Read more: 14 Things To Know About Royal Caribbean’s Labadee
8. Loyalty Programmes Becoming Easier
Not every crackdown is bad news for passengers. In fact, this is one where the cruise line is cracking down on a wider issue, making sure that it goes against the flow and actually makes things better for guests!
While Royal Caribbean has been tightening rules in some areas, it’s also made a major change designed to simplify loyalty benefits across its cruise brands.
Royal Caribbean Group recently announced a new initiative called Points Choice, launching in 2026, which allows passengers to decide where loyalty points earned on cruises are applied across Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea.
Under the new system, guests sailing with one brand will be able to choose which programme receives the points from that cruise. A Royal Caribbean passenger sailing on Celebrity, for example, could apply those points toward Crown & Anchor Society status instead.
The company says existing benefits and status matching will remain unchanged. It’s essentially the opposite of a crackdown – a sign that while cruise lines are becoming stricter operationally, they’re also trying to make life easier for valuable repeat customers.
And when other cruise lines are struggling to convince their loyal guests over their own programme changes, this one is a big PR win for Royal Caribbean.
Read more: Royal Caribbean Group Unveils Cross-Brand Points Choice Loyalty Programme
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Final Word
Royal Caribbean isn’t suddenly becoming the “fun police”. But it is becoming a bit more controlled, security-conscious and structured than it used to be.
Some of these changes are probably overdue. Few passengers genuinely enjoy chair hogs or having to put up with onboard fights. But others are more down to the reality that modern cruising has changed dramatically thanks to social media, remote working and increasingly packed mega-ships. And those updated drink package rules have definitely split opinion.
Regardless, the days of cruise lines quietly overlooking certain behaviours seem to be fading fast. Royal Caribbean has a fun, family-friendly reputation to protect, after all.
Don’t be surprised if there are more policy tweaks in future with that in mind. Will I still be allowed to film content onboard my cruises? Who knows!
